


Cityscape

by CreativeOddness



Series: Freeverse Anthology [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Free Verse, Gen, Poetry, city, city life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 12:06:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12840822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreativeOddness/pseuds/CreativeOddness
Summary: “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”- Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities





	Cityscape

* * *

 

the

 

art of                                                                  

scraping

& flying

 

high, clear  

                                               

in the panes

of expansive mirrored

greyness

 

begin,

 

in

 

a

ready made

city of wonder

to explore

 

with unknown skies,

grey &

sparkling with rain

& black beetles

rushing across the

distances of straight lines

along splashes

of yellow taxi backs

over the lanes & lanes

of traffic,

 

the _honk beep_

movement

carries

the faint taint of exhaust

in the back of your throat,

seeping in,

amid walk signs

& those reflective windows,

 

where,

up above,

in the foggy clouds,

the rain falls _,_

_hish hish_

looking down upon this beauty,

 

near to where the moon dwells,

where nothing is as it seems,

& the appearance of the city

from these great heights

belies its true soul,

 

which can be seen,

walking,

on the city

_drip drip_

streets,

 

a display of where truth lies,

in arms as wide as the Atlantic

& as deep as the Hudson

who hides your secrets

 

the soul of the city is in the streets,

in the people

 

seen everywhere all through

everything,

 

a storm of winter coats & umbrellas

& thundering _click stomp tap pat click bum_ _stomp_ feet

on concrete sidewalks

in a beating in time rhythm

of each heart _thump_

after heart _thump_

after heart _thump_

in a deep unending hymn of

forward & backward & towards

the past & future

smothering every one in pelting city slickness

from everywhere & everything

 

seeping into sewers & overturned garbage cans & far away on the sure wings of steady weaving wind

 

high above & chasing around the ankles of everyone you meet

in shadowy alcoves & caught between city air city turf city smell city people

 

all along the edges of building & inside their walls

with the wires & pipes & plumbing

inside corners & under thin loose floorboards

 

the sleety glossy city mist of patterns,

 

of sky on puddles

& the soaring stretch of their unseen peaks

echoed in driver’s side mirrors & sidewalk cracked on the edges

& window washers & hospitals & neon lights

bars & stop signs & store fronts & pickpockets

theatres & cellos on the corner & people living in alleyways

doorsteps & voices & walks home & hotels & apartments & fire escapes

 

they come together

 

all as one as all

 

to become the bits & puzzle pieces

that reveal

where the soul of cities truly lie

 

not high above,

but in the streets & in the lives

 


End file.
